John Spellman

John Dennis Spellman (29 December 1926-16 January 2018) was Governor of Washington (R) from 14 January 1981 to 16 January 1985, succeeding Dixy Lee Ray and preceding Booth Gardner.

Biography
John Dennis Spellman was born in Seattle, Washington in 1926, and he served in the US Navy from 1944 to 1946 during World War II. He graduated from Seattle University in 1949 and from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1953, and he joined a group of progressive Republican Party members seeking to reform the party. Spellman worked as an attorney, and he served as the first executive of King County from 1 May 1969 to 14 January 1981, with Ron Dunlap succeeding him. During his tenure as county executive, Spellman provided the first home for the Seattle Seahawks and the Seattle Mariners. In 1976, he failed in his run for Governor of Washington, losing to Democratic Party nominee Dixy Lee Ray; in 1980, however, he won the election. During his four-year term in office, the state suffered from rising unemployment and disappointing tax revenues, and he pushed for $2.5 billion in new taxes to address shortfalls, breaking a key campaign promise to not raise taxes. However, Spellman was strongly committed to environmental protection, opposing popular oil pipeline and development projects. In 1983, after Senator Henry M. Jackson's death, Spellman appointed Daniel J. Evans to fill his vacant US Senate seat. In 1984, the unpopular Spellman lost the election to Democrat Booth Gardner. He returned to private law practice, and he died from pneumonia in 2018.